The mysterious Havana Syndrome, an illness that has afflicted American diplomats and spies around the world, may be linked to energy weapons used by members of a Russian military intelligence sabotage unit, according to a joint investigation by the communications group Insider, from the CBS investigative program 60 Minutes and the German magazine Der Spiegel.
A US intelligence investigation, the results of which were published last year, concluded that it was “unlikely” that a foreign adversary was responsible for the disease.was first reported by US Embassy officials in the Cuban capital, Havana, in 2016, and has since affected hundreds of US employees abroad.
But Insider, a Russia-focused investigative media group based in Riga, Latvia, says members of Russia's military intelligence unit (GRU), known as 29155, were stationed at the scene of events involving American personnel. Some members of the unit have received awards and promotions for advances in the field of “non-lethal acoustic weapons.”
Russia has previously denied any involvement.
The syndrome causes symptoms such as migraines, nausea, memory failure, and dizziness.
The journalistic investigation was conducted over the course of a year based on intercepted Russian intelligence documents, travel logs and phone call metadata, as well as witness testimony that contradicted the US intelligence community's assessment.
The first case, according to the investigation, did not occur in Havana in 2016, but rather in Frankfurt, where an employee at the American Consulate lost consciousness due to what he described as resembling a powerful beam of energy.
The US Congress in 2021 passed a law allowing the State Department, CIA and other government agencies to pay salaries to employees and their families who were affected by the syndrome while deployed outside the United States.
a GRU are considered The main Russian spy agency operating abroad. He is suspected of being behind several attacks, including the one targeting Sergei SkripalFormer Russian spy in Salisburythe United Kingdom, or an attempted attack on the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (Not clear), in The Hague, where the agents were detected. Russia has always denied any connection to these attacks.
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